ONE sultry afternoon in 2001, I received a phone call from a friend.
‘It’s ready,’ he said. ‘Come now.’ Twenty minutes later, I was on his garden terrace. On a table before us were a bottle of Tanqueray Export Strength gin, running with condensation; a bucket of ice; a perfume atomiser, once property of a lady, but now filled with Noilly Prat; a cocktail shaker that, quite rightly, had never been shaken, only stirred; and a knife fitted not to making fiddly little twists, but to slicing plectrum-like patches of peel. ‘Shall I do the honours?’ asked my friend, whereupon, he approached a small tree that stood in a pot nearby and relieved it of its single burden and glory: a large and beautiful lemon.
It’s a perfectionist’s drink, the martini, and this one was perfect. I put it down to the lemon. Obviously, waiting weeks for it to ripen had heightened the pleasure, but there was also something about its ripeness, a succulent intensity perhaps only possible in an on/off English summer.
Its zest floated on the gin in luscious beads, not so much winking at the brim as purring ‘come hither’. A sip was enlightenment and anaesthesia.
Denne historien er fra March 08 2017-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra March 08 2017-utgaven av Country Life UK.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
Happiness in small things
Putting life into perspective and forces of nature in farming
Colour vision
In an eye-baffling arrangement of geometric shapes, a sinister-looking clown and a little girl, Test Card F is one of television’s most enduring images, says Rob Crossan
'Without fever there is no creation'
Three of the top 10 operas performed worldwide are by the emotionally volatile Italian composer Giacomo Puccini, who died a century ago. Henrietta Bredin explains how his colourful life influenced his melodramatic plot lines
The colour revolution
Toxic, dull or fast-fading pigments had long made it tricky for artists to paint verdant scenes, but the 19th century ushered in a viridescent explosion of waterlili
Bullace for you
The distinction between plums, damsons and bullaces is sweetly subtle, boiling down to flavour and aesthetics, but don’t eat the stones, warns John Wright
Lights, camera, action!
Three remarkable country houses, two of which have links to the film industry, the other the setting for a top-class croquet tournament, are anything but ordinary
I was on fire for you, where did you go?
In Iceland, a land with no monks or monkeys, our correspondent attempts to master the art of fishing light’ for Salmo salar, by stroking the creases and dimples of the Midfjardara river like the features of a loved one
Bravery bevond belief
A teenager on his gap year who saved a boy and his father from being savaged by a crocodile is one of a host of heroic acts celebrated in a book to mark the 250th anniversary of the Royal Humane Society, says its author Rupert Uloth
Let's get to the bottom of this
Discovering a well on your property can be viewed as a blessing or a curse, but all's well that ends well, says Deborah Nicholls-Lee, as she examines the benefits of a personal water supply
Sing on, sweet bird
An essential component of our emotional relationship with the landscape, the mellifluous song of a thrush shapes the very foundation of human happiness, notes Mark Cocker, as he takes a closer look at this diverse family of birds
